The Modern Venus Blog

Today's My Birthday!

Whooohoo!  Today is my 40th birthday, and I'm off to Paris to celebrate with my hubby! I will return in a few days with stories about my adventures!  Here are a couple of pictures of me when I was rather a bit younger! 

A Singles Wine Soiree from Swirl Events

Here's a great idea for next Thursday evening for your singletons!   Make your reservations now!

Sip out of hibernation and beckon that cute prospect with those coy glances.
Come meet and mingle with wine-loving New Yorkers!

Swirl Events presents: Spring Flirt
A singles soiree wine tasting

Thursday, May 22, 7-9 pm
16 W23rd St, 4th Fl @ 5th Ave
$55/person. RSVP required. Tickets Limited.
Reserve by clicking here!

Playfully engage in eye-batting behavior as you experience
seven hand-selected wines from around the world perfectly paired with
artisanal cheeses and decadent chocolate desserts provided by
Sweet Muse--served by Swirl's delightful wine experts!

Recommended Listen: Robyn

As I lay on the dentist's chair getting a 2 hour root canal yesterday (ack!) I listed to Robyn's new album and really  loved it!    It's a great mix of dance, synth, and pop.  I've loved her stuff since her original album oh so many years ago (my favorite song for a long time is "Show Me Love") .  . . and it was the perfect distraction from all the drilling.  Definitely check it out on ITunes! 

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!   My cats were so sweet this morning and gave me a card, so I was happy.   Ever wonder how Mother's Day started? 

A long time ago, this is how it was celebrated (from About.com:

People in many ancient cultures celebrated holidays honoring motherhood, personified as a goddess. Here are just a few of those:

• ancient Greeks celebrated a holiday in honor of Rhea, the mother of the gods
• ancient Romans celebrated a holiday in honor of Cybele, a mother goddess, March 22-25 - the celebrations were notorious enough that followers of Cybele were banished from Rome
• in the British Isles and Celtic Europe, the goddess Brigid, and later her successor St. Brigid, were honored with a spring Mother's Day, connected with the first milk of the ewes

In modern times, the origination of Mother's Day actually started as a way to try to stop war!   Here are details from Wikipedia:

The United States celebrates Mother's Day on the second Sunday in May. In the United States, Mother's Day was loosely inspired by the British day and was imported by social activist Julia Ward Howe after the American Civil War. However, it was intended as a call to unite women against war. In 1870, she wrote the Mother's Day Proclamation as a call for peace and disarmament. Howe failed in her attempt to get formal recognition of a Mother's Day for Peace. Her idea was influenced by Ann Jarvis, a young Appalachian homemaker who, starting in 1858, had attempted to improve sanitation through what she called Mothers' Work Days. She organized women throughout the Civil War to work for better sanitary conditions for both sides, and in 1868 she began work to reconcile Union and Confederate neighbors.

When Jarvis died in 1907, her daughter, named Anna Jarvis, started the crusade to found a memorial day for women. The first such Mother's Day was celebrated in Grafton, West Virginia, on 10 May 1908, in the church where the elder Ann Jarvis had taught Sunday School. Originally the Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church, this building is now the International Mother's Day Shrine (a National Historic Landmark). From there, the custom caught on — spreading eventually to 45 states. The holiday was declared officially by some states beginning in 1912. In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson declared the first national Mother's Day, as a day for American citizens to show the flag in honor of those mothers whose sons had died in war.

Nine years after the first official Mother's Day, commercialization of the U.S. holiday became so rampant that Anna Jarvis herself became a major opponent of what the holiday had become. Mother's Day continues to this day to be one of the most commercially successful U.S. occasions. According to the National Restaurant Association, Mother's Day is now the most popular day of the year to dine out at a restaurant in the United States.

Spring Snapshot

Here's a perfect spring picture to bring a smile to your face!  On my walk this morning in Prospect Park, I came across a whole pile of baby geese!  These are just a few . . . they were roaming all over the place and they were absolutely adorable.   Have a great Spring Saturday! 

Step-Up Women's Network: You Are My Inspiration!

Here is a GREAT idea for Mother's Day . . . for birthday presents . . . or for a "just because" present for a friend  or co-worker who could use a pick-me-up! You know that I am a HUGE proponent of developing good karma -- here's a great way to do that! 

You Are My Inspiration is an interactive online gift house where women can honor a special someone in their life. Created by Step Up Women's Network with support from corporate sponsor ULTA, You Are My Inspiration provides a meaningful way for women nationwide to impact the lives of underserved teen girls by purchasing inspiring "gifts" for the people that inspire them.

We hope you will take a ride on the Step Up wave of philanthropy and support our cause through this innovative opportunity to thank the visionary women who have shaped your life. Your donation will touch the lives of women and girls across the country and demonstrate the personal benefits to giving back.  This is how it works, isn't it lovely?   

Mildred Loving

I had the great honor of working with Philip J. Hirschkop, noted in this obituary of Mildred Loving, for the majority of my legal career.  Philip Hirschkop handled the landmark and legendary constitutional argument before the US Supreme Court that permitted Mildred Loving to marry her sweetheart.  The obituary below comes from the The New York Times.

* * * *

Mildred Loving, a black woman whose anger over being banished from Virginia for marrying a white man led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling overturning state miscegenation laws, died on May 2 at her home in Central Point, Va. She was 68.

Mildred and Richard Loving, in 1967, were arrested in Virginia.

Peggy Fortune, her daughter, said the cause was pneumonia.

The Supreme Court ruling, in 1967, struck down the last group of segregation laws to remain on the books — those requiring separation of the races in marriage. The ruling was unanimous, its opinion written by Chief Justice Earl Warren, who in 1954 wrote the court’s opinion in Brown v. Board of Education, declaring segregated public schools unconstitutional.

In Loving v. Virginia, Warren wrote that miscegenation laws violated the Constitution’s equal protection clause. “We have consistently denied the constitutionality of measures which restrict the rights of citizens on account of race,” he said.

By their own widely reported accounts, Mrs. Loving and her husband, Richard, were in bed in their modest house in Central Point in the early morning of July 11, 1958, five weeks after their wedding, when the county sheriff and two deputies, acting on an anonymous tip, burst into their bedroom and shined flashlights in their eyes. A threatening voice demanded, “Who is this woman you’re sleeping with?”

Mrs. Loving answered, “I’m his wife.”

Mr. Loving pointed to the couple’s marriage certificate hung on the bedroom wall. The sheriff responded, “That’s no good here.”

The certificate was from Washington, D.C., and under Virginia law, a marriage between people of different races performed outside Virginia was as invalid as one done in Virginia. At the time, it was one of 16 states that barred marriages between races.

After Mr. Loving spent a night in jail and his wife several more, the couple pleaded guilty to violating the Virginia law, the Racial Integrity Act. Under a plea bargain, their one-year prison sentences were suspended on the condition that they leave Virginia and not return together or at the same time for 25 years.

Judge Leon M. Bazile, in language Chief Justice Warren would recall, said that if God had meant for whites and blacks to mix, he would have not placed them on different continents. Judge Bazile reminded the defendants that “as long as you live you will be known as a felon.”

They paid court fees of $36.29 each, moved to Washington and had three children. They returned home occasionally, never together. But times were tough financially, and the Lovings missed family, friends and their easy country lifestyle in the rolling Virginia hills.

By 1963, Mrs. Loving could stand the ostracism no longer. Inspired by the civil rights movement and its march on Washington, she wrote Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and asked for help. He wrote her back, and referred her to the American Civil Liberties Union.

The A.C.L.U. took the case. Its lawyers, Bernard S. Cohen and Philip J. Hirschkop, faced an immediate problem: the Lovings had pleaded guilty and had no right to appeal. So they asked Judge Bazile to set aside his original verdict. When he refused, they appealed. The Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals upheld the lower court, and the case went to the United States Supreme Court.

Mr. Cohen recounted telling Mr. Loving about various legal theories applying to the case. Mr. Loving replied, “Mr. Cohen, tell the court I love my wife, and it is just unfair that I can’t live with her in Virginia.”

Mildred Delores Jeter’s family had lived in Caroline County, Va., for generations, as had the family of Richard Perry Loving. The area was known for friendly relations between races, even though marriages were forbidden. Many people were visibly of mixed race, with Ebony magazine reporting in 1967 that black “youngsters easily passed for white in neighboring towns.”

Mildred’s mother was part Rappahannock Indian, and her father was part Cherokee. She preferred to think of herself as Indian rather than black.

Mildred and Richard began spending time together when he was a rugged-looking 17 and she was a skinny 11-year-old known as Bean. He attended an all-white high school for a year, and she reached 11th grade at an all-black school.

When Mildred became pregnant at 18, they decided to do what was elsewhere deemed the right thing and get married. They both said their initial motive was not to challenge Virginia law.

“We have thought about other people,” Mr. Loving said in an interview with Life magazine in 1966, “but we are not doing it just because somebody had to do it and we wanted to be the ones. We are doing it for us.”

In his classic study of segregation, “An American Dilemma,” Gunnar Myrdal wrote that “the whole system of segregation and discrimination is designed to prevent eventual inbreeding of the races.”

But miscegenation laws struck deeper than other segregation acts, and the theory behind them leads to chaos in other facets of law. This is because they make any affected marriage void from its inception. Thus, all children are illegitimate; spouses have no inheritance rights; and heirs cannot receive death benefits.

“When any society says that I cannot marry a certain person, that society has cut off a segment of my freedom,” the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said in 1958.

Virginia’s law had been on the books since 1662, adopted a year after Maryland enacted the first such statute. At one time or another, 38 states had miscegenation laws. State and federal courts consistently upheld the prohibitions, until 1948, when the California Supreme Court overturned California’s law.

Though the Supreme Court’s 1967 decision in the Loving case struck down miscegenation laws, Southern states were sometimes slow to change their constitutions; Alabama became the last state to do so, in 2000.

Mr. Loving died in a car accident in 1975, and the Lovings’ son Donald died in 2000. In addition to her daughter, Peggy Fortune, who lives in Milford, Va., Mrs. Loving is survived by her son, Sidney, of Tappahannock, Va.; eight grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.

Mrs. Loving stopped giving interviews, but last year issued a statement on the 40th anniversary of the announcement of the Supreme Court ruling, urging that gay men and lesbians be allowed to marry.

An Amazing Treat: Gnosis Chocolate

I am a huge chocolate fan but not a huge fan of sugar, which is the cause of many health ailments.  Now I've discovered an AMAZING chocolate product that is like eating a decadent truffle, but is actually GOOD FOR YOU.  The product is Gnosis Chocolate ("gnosis" means "knowledge of the heart, experiential knowledge and intuitive knowledge, FYI).  It is completely raw, handmade, organic, unprocessed, and totally delish.   It comes in lots of amazing flavors, including Vanilla Hazelnut, Cool Peppermint, Mayan Heat (with cayenne pepper and red pepper flakes, I gave that one to my husband!) and Greeentea.  The company also makes custom flavors if you want them to whip up something special and lovely for you.  Check them out and satisfy your chocolate cravings without any guilt whatsoever!

Recommended Reading: "Basic Black: The Essential Guide to Getting Ahead in Work (and in Life)" by Cathie Black

One of my current favorite reads is "Basic Black:  The Essential Guide to Getting Ahead At Work (And In Life)," by Cathie Black, the President of Hearst Magazines. In this entertaining volume, Ms. Black shares secrets to her success, unexpected pitfalls that she overcame, and delivers lots of tips and ideas how all women can get ahead - and find personal and work balance, besides.  I personally particularly liked her chapter on women and power . . . some of her tidbits about power include:
Power = controlling the flow of information
Power = knowing your strengths and weaknesses
Power = not getting overly caught up in the idea of power
Power = knowing how to let things go

"As every woman needs basic black in her wardrobe, she also needs Basic Black on her bookshelf. This is the perfect handbook on getting ahead while staying true to yourself."
—Donna Karan, Designer    

Chloe & Reese

Modern Venus hosted a trunk show last Tuesday at the Chloe & Reese showroom . . . the label has the most wonderful dresses -- flirty yet ladylike, colorful, incredibly well-made, and also whimsical.  The label, recently highlighted on the "Today Show," has a very unique shopping opportunity - you can stop by their showroom, try on any dresses, and then you order the ones you want choosing from an array of lovely fabrics!  The price point is SO reasonable . . . . you can also find their dresses at places like Neiman Marcus.